Hot on the heels of the announcement from Google of the new Chromebook featuring Cloud storage, comes Apple with its' own version, iCloud, which will allow all your ‘i' devices to wirelessly share information.
iCloud will be incorporated into the updated Apple operating system iOS 5, due in the Autumn, which will have over 200 new features - although Flash still seems to be missing. One major advance is that you won't need to own a PC before you purchase an iPad, iPhone or iPod; you can set up and use any of the devices using Wi-Fi. But if you do own an Apple Mac or PC you can share information with them too.
Apple claim: "This is the cloud the way it should be: automatic and effortless. iCloud is seamlessly integrated into your apps, so you can access your content on all your devices.
"iCloud is so much more than a hard drive in the sky. It's the effortless way to access just about everything on all your devices. iCloud stores your content so it's always accessible from your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, or PC. It gives you instant access to your music, apps, latest photos, and more. And it keeps your email, contacts, and calendars up to date across all your devices. No syncing required. No management required. In fact, no anything required. iCloud does it all for you."
Apple are giving every user 5GB of free storage but as this does not include music, e-books or photographs, which are stored separately, this should be plenty for most users.
Of course, all this means that should you have a problem with one of your devices there will be no need to spend hours restoring all your precious information; it will all be backed up in the iCloud, ready for you to use at any time. Even better, you won't need to connect to your PC or Mac with a hard wire to make it happen; the process takes place wirelessly as soon as you switch on.
iCloud will certainly solve the problem of data loss through a hard drive crash. But what are the odds of a hacker gaining access to Apple's servers, which is where your data will really be stored?
Find out more about the new iOS 5 and iCloud at: http://www.apple.com/icloud/
Posted Date: 21st Jul 2011